Another Saint-Saëns opera: Ascanio!

[Christopher]

This is great news, thanks!  Although I am in general a "Russianist", I have always liked Saint-Saens and seek to have at least one version of everything by him that has been recorded.  Regarding his operas, does his mean that only three remain unrecorded?  I think the list of his operas is as follows (wikipedia...)

Le timbre d'argent
La princesse jaune
Samson et Dalila
Étienne Marcel
Henry VIII
Proserpine
Ascanio
Phryné
Frédégonde
Les barbares
Hélène
L'ancêtre
Déjanire

- ie - Frédégonde, L'ancêtre and Déjanire?

[Alan Howe]

Please could we keep to Ascanio in this thread? For Frédégonde see:
http://www.unsungcomposers.com/forum/index.php/topic,6931.msg73412.html#msg73412

[pcc]

I'll be very curious to hear this.  I like the ballet music very much, which seemed to have retained some popularity into the 20th century. I have it by the Band of the Grenadier Guards under Albert Williams, who recorded it complete on four 12" 78 sides for Columbia in about 1913-14. That was an unusually lengthy instrumental piece to issue at the time, which indicates both Williams's interest and Columbia's generosity.

[mjmosca]

The Ballet music from Ascanio has been recorded on a disk entitled "Elan: Ballet Music from Operas by Saint-Saens" along with selections from Henry VIII, Etienne Marcel and Les Barbares, with the same maestro who is at the helm of this complete recording, Guillaume Tourniaire. A fine recording on the Melba label.

[BerlinExpat]

Ascanio is out but unfortunately the presentation is disappointing. It comes in book form, 15 x 19.5 cm, and the pink box you see on the advertising is in fact a sticky label which goes around the opening side of the book and is perforated to enable you to open the book. Despite breaking the perforations as carefully as I could the front part of the remaining sticky label is slightly damaged.
The book is nicely produced, but oh, how difficult it is to follow the libretto. Instead of the French and English side by side on one page as is common practice, there are two columns of French on the left hand page and two columns of English on the right hand page. In addition to that the start lines of the respective singer texts are not always level between the two languages.
The CDs are held in pockets inside the front and back covers but the slots in which they sit close flat when the CD is removed. I had great difficulty in replacing CD 1 after playing it.
There is no overall timing for the individual CDs or acts. Timings are given for each track and there are 60 in total.
All texts in French are printed on pink paper (quite useful for finding your way around) and double pages of monochrome photographs are inserted between the lengthy synopsis and libretto as well as between the libretto sections pertaining to each CD.
Otherwise a quality product but I would have preferred a CD sized book similar to the one produced by Challenge Classics for the De Nederlandse Opera recording of Schreker's Der Schatzgräber.

[Alan Howe]

I always remove CDs from releases like this one and keep them in separate cases to prevent damage.

[BerlinExpat]

I will too. I have done so with all the Palazzetto Bru Zane releases!

[Alan Howe]

Moi aussi!

[Alan Howe]

I have now merged the existing two threads on Ascanio. Hope this makes things clearer.

[Alan Howe]

Here, by the way, is an interesting article on Saint-Saëns' operas:
https://www.operanews.com/Opera_News_Magazine/2014/5/Features/Lost_Legacy.html

[Alan Howe]

This is a very fine opera, verging in places on greatness. The only problem is a rather variable amount of memorable material early on. But then comes CD2, which contains some really mesmerising extended passages. After that there's CD3 - wow! I'm glad to report that there are some superb vocal contributions, notably from two Swiss singers, mezzo-soprano Eve-Maude Hubeaux (Scozzone) and tenor Bernard Richter (Ascanio), and also two Canadians, baritone Jean-François Lapointe (Benvenuto Cellini) and Karina Gauvin (Duchess).

It is a great pleasure to welcome this outstanding recording. The sound is spacious and full of impact. Altogether a triumph, I'd say - and surely the best Saint-Saëns opera after Samson et Dalila.

This'll be my Operatic Discovery of 2018. By a long way!

[Revilod]

My copy arrived in the post this morning. I'm busy at the moment but will listen soon. Is "Ascanio" really superior to "Henri VIII"?

[Alan Howe]

I'd say so - but I'm speaking from memory. At all events, this is a fabulous opera, superbly done here. A revelation!

[Alan Howe]

Someone's going to say that this is the greatest thing Saint-Saëns ever wrote. I may even agree...

[Mark Thomas]

I haven't had time to listen to my copy of Ascanio yet, but my appetite for Saint-Saëns was whetted again by watching a cinema simulcast last Saturday of the Met's spectacular production of Samson et Dalilah with Roberto Alagna and Elīna Garanča (who was superb). What a piece! I had quite forgotten just how powerful it is.